Thursday, April 17, 2008

Yup. I'm back from 12 days at Tassajara. As soon as I get a minute I'm gonna write down some of my thoughts on Tassajara specifically as well as monastic practice in the modern world in general. Hopefully I won't offend all the very wonderful friends I made up there in Carmel Valley as well as in the Bay Area. My general impression of Tassajara is that I love, love, love the place. But my love isn't unconditional.

Anyway, more about that when I have time to write coherently.

I hope you've all gone over and read my interview with porn superstar and Zen Buddhist Nina Hartley on Suicide Girls. Like all the stuff I write for Suicide Girls, you can look at this without joining the site and without any danger of accidentally seeing naked titties. This represents about half of the actual interview I conducted and I'm hoping the publish the full version elsewhere. Stay tuned.

Those of you in North Carolina and its environs, check out the link in the post below this one for info on the retreat I'll be leading next week at the Southern Dharma Retreat Center. And cheeseheads in Milwaukee take note I'll be in your neighborhood in mid-May. The info is also in the post below.

Fave quote:"Guys are fun! And I found out that the more nudity there is, the better-behaved men are. Absent beer. [...] It’s like, if you do this, the naked tits will stay. OK. I can do that! Men are very rule oriented. What are the rules for naked boobs being in the room? I’ll follow those rules."

Brad, If you ever decide to open your own zen center (preferably up here in SF area...) I will be one of your first member who comes running!Thanks for your input into the teachings of ...of..well finding truth.

CDC report for 2007:In the same year, HIV infection was the 5th leading cause of death among all women aged 35–44 years and the 6th leading cause of death among all women aged 25–34 years. The only diseases causing more deaths of women were cancer and heart disease [2].

the reason I post the above info is because Nina has received thousands of instances of body fluids so her lifstyle raises the risks of HIV/STD infection. I'm aware porn performers do testing but I believe the current tests do not find HIV unless it is in the body for 6 months or more. I would be interested how Nina has dealt with these issues and what impact it has had on her career.

Karen Dior (February 14, 1967 – August 25, 2004), born Geoffrey Gann, was an adult film performer and director. Dior was a transvestite, and when not performing as Karen Dior in films or in personal appearances, identified as a male. As Karen, however, Dior performed in approximately 120 adult films.

...Some of you know a great deal more about Freemasonry than I do, and I am not here to say anything against it, because I do not know anything to say, and I do not know as I would say it if I did know it. The Lord did not send me to preach against Masonry..."Pastor Russell - Question 317:2 (1910)

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the SBTVD, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://sbtvd.blogspot.com. A hug.

Welcome home. I can't tell if you're a great interviewer who can bring out his interviewees with just a few words, or a guy with a tape recorder. Either way, nice job, it was a very interesting interview.

"This is one of the best reads on sexuality I ever read."Ditto. It's straight to the heart of it's truth and it helped me realize I had a silly preconception that all porn stars are unarticulate and far from intelligent.